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The death of truth notes on falsehood in the age of Trump

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic comes an impassioned critique of America's retreat from reason. We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, prov...

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Main Author: Kakutani, Michiko (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: New York : Tim Duggan Books, [2018]
Edition: First edition.
Subjects:
Political culture > United States.
Truth > Political aspects > United States.
United States > Politics and government > 2017-
Summary: "From the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic comes an impassioned critique of America's retreat from reason. We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted by the occupants of the White House. Discredited conspiracy theories and ideologies have resurfaced, proven science is once more up for debate, and Russian propaganda floods our screens. The wisdom of the crowd has usurped research and expertise, and we are each left clinging to the beliefs that best confirm our biases. How did truth become an endangered species in contemporary America? This decline began decades ago, and in The Death of Truth, former New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani takes a penetrating look at the cultural forces that contributed to this gathering storm. In social media and literature, television, academia, and politics, Kakutani identifies the trends--originating on both the right and the left--that have combined to elevate subjectivity over factuality, science, and common values. And she returns us to the words of the great critics of authoritarianism, writers like George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, whose work is newly and eerily relevant. With remarkable erudition and insight, Kakutani offers a provocative diagnosis of our current condition and points toward a new path for our truth-challenged times."--Dust jacket.
Physical Description: 208 pages ; 20 cm
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-208).
ISBN: 9780525574828
0525574824
Author Notes: Michiko Kakutani is an American literary critic and writer. Her alma mater is Yale University. Early in her career she worked for The Washington Post and then Time magazine. She began at The New York Times in 1979 as a cultural reporter. She is the former chief book critic of The New York Times. In 1998, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Her debut book was published in July 2018 and is entitled The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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